mindful MATERIALS: Circular Economy
A linear economy goes in one direction: take → make → waste. Circularity requires a radical mindset shift: it’s a holistic approach that designs for disassembly and reuse, and creates the conditions and infrastructure to ensure reuse happens. Our resources help you identify approaches and materials that can be part of this new, urgently needed economy. A circular economy demands that we reuse and improve buildings and design for resilience, adaptability, disassembly, and reuse, aspiring to a zero-waste goal for global construction activities.
mindful MATERIALS: Circular Economy
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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LEED and WELL Product Labels: A Guide and Analysis
Feature Article
LEED and WELL encourage a lot of different programs for green products. Learn the essentials—plus what’s behind the labels.
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What Makes a Product Green Today?
Feature Article
Lots of manufacturers call their products "green," but are they? Here's our guide to the high-performance attributes that matter.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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Broadloom Carpet
Product Guide
These broadloom carpets are made with natural wool or are certified NSF 140 Platinum or Cradle to Cradle v3.1 Silver or Gold. Many are free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
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Countertops
Product Guide
Select the surface that meets the design objectives, meets health and environmental criteria, and has the greatest durability.
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Textiles
Product Guide
These high-performance, low-impact fabrics are painstakingly vetted and include biobased synthetics and some natural fibers.
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Hardwood & Bamboo Flooring
Product Guide
Hardwood and rapidly renewable flooring that's sustainably sourced and tested for ultra-low indoor emissions
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Grounding the AIA Materials Pledge in Data
News Analysis
With a Common Materials Framework, mindful Materials is mapping product labels to industry commitments.
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Reducing Whole-Life Carbon Brings Fringe Benefits
News Brief
The UKGBC says that by pursuing circularity, project teams can add financial, social, and other types of value to buildings.
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Free Tool Estimates Embodied and Operational Carbon
News Brief
EPIC from EHDD is used very early in building design to help project teams make choices about structure, envelope, landscaping, and more.
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A Platform for Sharing Product Circularity Data
News Brief
The Product Circularity Data Sheet is a new way to track product ingredients and other circular design features, and is now available through Toxnot.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
- Check if your spelling is correct, or try removing filters.
- Remove quotes around phrases to match each word individually: "blue drop" will match less than blue drop.
- You can require or exclude terms using + and -: big +blue drop will require a match on blue while big blue -drop will exclude results that contain drop.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Wood: Is It Still Good? Part Two: Moving from Carbon to Climate
Spotlight Report
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LEED and WELL Product Labels: A Guide and Analysis
Feature Article
LEED and WELL encourage a lot of different programs for green products. Learn the essentials—plus what’s behind the labels.
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Wood: Is It Still Good? Part One: Embodied Carbon
Spotlight Report
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Selecting Optimized Products for LEED Projects
Webcast
This pragmatic webinar walks you through the v4.1 version of the three Materials & Resources credits that encourage product-related disclosure and optimization.